


Pope's Princesa

by aerolanya, jedi_witch



Category: Triple Frontier (2019)
Genre: All the TF Boys are good bros, Explicit Language, F/M, Frankie is a good bro, Single Dad Pope, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:35:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29690982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerolanya/pseuds/aerolanya, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jedi_witch/pseuds/jedi_witch
Summary: Two years after the events of Triple Frontier, Santiago ‘Pope’ Garcia is faced with a decision that threatens to turn his entire world upside down. He’s used to being a lone wolf, dependent on no one, but now he’ll need to rely on the rest of his team once again as he navigates the murky waters of his new circumstance.
Relationships: Santiago "Pope" Garcia/Original Female Character(s), Santiago "Pope" Garcia/Reader, Santiago “Pope” Garcia & The TF Boys
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally here! This story is so very near and dear to our hearts, and we're so excited to share it with you. 
> 
> This could be read as self insert because the OFC is named, but not really described physically, and what description exists is very vague. She’ll be showing up in a couple chapters. 😘

It’s the pounding on the door at 0800 that pulls Pope from his blissful sleep. Having only laid down three hours earlier, he was just finally dropping into that deep, relaxing sleep. It was supposed to be his day off, he was supposed to get to sleep in, but instead here he was cracking an eye open and looking at the time displayed from his phone on the nightstand. Groaning, he sits up as the pounding starts again. Dragging on some sleep pants, he grabs the gun he keeps on the nightstand and walks through the apartment to the front door.

Checking through the door to see who was there only presents Pope with the image of a woman in a business suit with her hair pulled into a severe bun and glasses perched on her nose. She’s just raising her hand to pound on the door again when he whips it open. His actions must startle the woman, because she takes a second to collect herself before asking, “Santiago Garcia?”

Pope’s brows crease. “Who’s asking?” he wants to know, taking in the bag at the woman’s feet and what, was that a baby carrier? Pope reaches over and places his weapon on the stand by the door, but still well within his reach.

“My name is Amelia Jones and I represent Lacy Westingham, your former partner. She wanted us to inform you that she relinquishes all her parental rights and wishes to no longer be part of the child’s life,” the woman says, motioning to the baby carrier on the ground beside her.

“What do you mean she no longer wishes to be part of the child’s life? What child?” Pope questions; surely he would have been told if he had a kid. At least he hopes he would have been told. 

“Yes, it seems that Ms. Westingham had no desire to be a mother, but at the threat of losing out on her trust, she chose to have the child. She produced said child and now she wishes to have nothing to do with it. The child was born only five days ago. If you wish, you can have a paternity test done and will then have to file the birth certificate when you decide on a name. Or you can simply sign your rights away and the child will go up for adoption.” The lawyer produces a folder with all of the aforementioned documents while Pope’s brain is struggling to keep up.

He was a dad? He was always so careful, confirmed bachelor for life, that's what he had reiterated to Will and Frankie constantly. Surely the kid couldn’t actually be his, could it? The being in question decided at that point to make their presence fully known and let out a soft cry from the carrier. The lawyer picks up the carrier and the bag and hands them over to Pope as he stands dumbfounded in the doorway.

“My card is in the folder, if you have any questions please do call. My firm was instructed by the child’s grandfather, Mr. Richard Westingham, that we are to assist you in any way as long as you keep the child away from Ms. Westingham as she wishes. There is also a trust set aside for any needs the child may have. Thank you, Mr. Garcia, have a nice day.” With that, the lawyer took off down the hallway to the elevator.

Kicking the door closed, Santiago makes for the kitchen island to set everything in his hands down, including the carrier. A baby with no name, he can’t believe this is actually his life. Once the carrier was securely settled, he moved the cover and the blanket that was obscuring the occupant from view. As he does, he sees a shock of his inky hair and painfully familiar brown eyes staring back at him. He feels like he’s been kicked in the gut and all the air leaves his body.

Holy shit, he’s a dad. _He’s a daddy?!_ Panicking slightly, he runs a hand through his hair, unsure of where to even begin with a baby when suddenly the little one lets out a cry again. _Okay Santiago, you can do this, first things first,_ he thinks to himself, _wait, I don’t even know the first thing. Maybe removing them from the carrier?_ Deciding upon this course of action, he carefully unclips the buckles from around the baby and pulls the little pink and teal hospital blanket up with the small being, cradling her in his arms and moving to the living room, grabbing the folder as he goes. 

As Santiago looks down at the tiny baby in his arms, he’s overwhelmed by the new responsibility that has been dropped in his lap. So much for his day off. Her brown eyes stare up into his curiously, and she fusses a bit, seeming unsettled. Pope doesn’t blame her. He sighs and cuddles her closer to his chest, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her tiny fuzzy head.

“Don’t you worry, _Princesa_. Daddy’s never going to leave you. We got this, right? You and me? We can do this,” he says it easily, committing to far more than he realizes at the moment. Damn, he really needs to call Frankie. He is definitely not looking forward to the inevitable pile of shit the guys are going to give him for this. 

Picking up his cell phone, he clicks over to the speed dials before sighing and closing the app. Where do people get baby shit? Google will know. Google first. Diapers, food. Fuck, how do you install a car seat in a truck? “Hey Google, how do you install a car seat?” As Google pulls up a helpful instructional video, he sits back down on the couch and starts to take stock of what the lawyer dropped off with her.

Honestly, he has no idea what the fuck is needed in taking care of a baby, outside of what he’s picked up from the handful of times that he’s babysat for Frankie and his girl. What do babies need? Lots of shit, probably. He scrubs his hand over his face and figures it’s time to bite the bullet. Eyes still closed tightly, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, he dials Frankie and sets the phone to speaker so he can keep holding the tiny bundle in his arms.

Frankie picks up almost instantly, “Hey man, you better not be fucking canceling on me again, I already told your nephew that you’re coming over for dinner and you know he loves his Uncle Santi.” 

“I gotta tell you something, Fish.” 

“Oh God, what have you done now, Pope? You’re not leaving the country tonight or anything, are you?” 

“I got a kid, man.”

Pope is suddenly incredibly thankful that the phone is on speaker and balanced beside him on the couch, so that he doesn’t lose his remaining hearing when Frankie roars into the microphone.

“You have a _what_? Since when? _With who_?”

“It’s Lacy, Fish, I don’t know. Some lawyer just dropped off a bunch of paperwork and a baby. Lacy doesn’t want our daughter, man. I never even knew that she was pregnant.”

The silence on the other end of the line tells him that Frankie is processing this information, and Pope leans back and sighs heavily, settling his baby ( _his baby, God_ ) onto his chest. Catfish sighs as well, before taking in an audible breath and blowing it out. 

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. _You_ are going to take inventory of what you have. Write it down if you have to. I’m going to tell Jaybird that you’re in some deep shit,” Pope scoffs at that, “and that I’m gonna come help you out. I’ll pick up Will, I’ll explain it to him on the way, and then, my perennial bachelor friend, we are going to go pick up some shit for your baby. What’s her name, by the way?”

“She doesn’t even have one, Fish. I’m in deep shit here, okay?” There’s another pause.

“You got your team, man. We all got your back. You’ll figure this out.” 

“Yeah. See you soon.” He disconnects the line without waiting for a response, and turns his attention back to the bundle in his arms. 

Frankie hangs up the phone and turns to his wife, his Jaybird, sitting next to him with her eyebrow raised in question. “What’s going on?” She knows that quick and to the point is the best way to get answers with Frankie. 

Taking a deep breath and trying to wrap his own head around the information he’s just been handed, he looks to her, “Well sweetheart, Pope’s a daddy! I’m going to pick up Will and go help him figure this out. You gonna be okay here, babe?” With that, Frankie leaned over to kiss her cheek and moved to get up, completely ignoring the look of shock and confusion on Jayme’s face.

“He’s a what?” Jay’s confusion settles even deeper, “What?” 

“Yup, he’s a daddy, you going to be okay here with Javier and Izabella for a while so I can go over there?” Frankie wants to be there to help out with this delicate situation that Pope has suddenly found himself in, but he also doesn’t want to leave his wife at home alone with a three-month old and a rambunctious toddler.

By this point, Jaybird’s brain has finally caught up and processed the information that Frankie had thrown at her. “So you’re telling me that Pope, as in Santiago Garcia, the Pope we know and love, has a kid?” 

“Yup,” Frankie answers, popping the p on the end. 

“Huh. Yeah, no, I’ll be good, Javi will play and Izabella is still in the mostly immobile stage. You go, but I expect a full breakdown later.” Jayme responds with her blessing, unsure if this is real or some gag Pope is playing. She knows though, that he wouldn’t play with something as meaningful as this, so she’s willing to bet that Pope somehow suddenly has a kid. 

Frankie leans down and kisses Jaybird on the top of the head and heads out after shooting a text to Will telling him he’s swinging by to pick him up and they need to get to Pope’s ASAP. 

Thirty minutes later with Will in the truck, and after a slight detour to get coffee and donuts, Frankie pulls up to the parking garage of Santiago’s condo building. As they make their way from the elevator to Pope’s door, Frankie hears the tell-tale sound of a baby’s cry. An extremely new baby’s cry at that.

Will side-eyes Frankie slightly since the only information that he had been given was that Pope was in some deep shit and needed help, but the question is evident on his face. Frankie just swallows and knocks on the door to announce his presence before using his key to let himself in Santi’s place.

Opening the door, Frankie walks in first followed closely by Will, and is greeted by the picture of one frantic and shirtless Santiago “Pope” Garcia with an incredibly small and incredibly loud bundle bouncing softly in his arms as he paces around the living room and the baby cries. Pope clocks him with a look of pure desperation that screams “Help. Me.” as he moves toward Frankie.

Will stands to the side still holding the coffee and the bag of donuts when suddenly the donuts meet the floor, and his previously occupied hand comes up to rub his eyes in an attempt to make sure that the scene before him is actually real. When he removes his hand and sees that it is indeed real, the only thing that his brain can process is “Oh, _fuck_.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pope is overwhelmed with the new responsibility that's been dumped in his lap, but at least he's got his team there to help him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A HUGE thank you to everyone who’s read, left kudos, commented, or bookmarked! We’re honestly so fucking stoked and love you all so very much.

“Where the fuck did that come from?” Will asks, “I just saw you less than twelve hours ago at Benny’s fight.” Watching Pope pace with the small bundle, he honestly has to take a moment to wonder what sort of setup this is. 

“Some lawyer just dropped her off, I had no idea she existed until….” Santi looks over to the microwave to find the time, “forty-two minutes ago. I don’t know what to do here man. Hand me a weapon and I can get things done, I have no idea what to do with this.” He shrugs with the baby in his hands; she’s settled in her cries somewhat, but she’s still fussing. 

Frankie moves over to Santiago, stretching his arms out to grab the upset baby. “Did you make the list of stuff you had like I asked you to?” he asks, knowing full well Pope probably hadn’t yet, but he needs to get him into action. Will grabs the dropped bag of donuts up off the floor and sets the coffees on the counter. Meanwhile, Pope moves to the kitchen, still keeping an eye on Frankie holding his daughter as he reaches for a coffee. 

Looking down at the small package in his hands, Frankie begins to assess what he’s holding. She has dark curls of hair, a surprising amount for a new baby, at least if they weren’t a Garcia, he supposes. Her fussing pauses for a moment as she determines that a new person is holding her, and when she opens her eyes, Catfish sees the brown eyes of his best friend staring back at him. Her little nose is scrunched and her small mouth remains closed. Holding her, Frankie thinks she couldn’t possibly weigh more than six pounds and is everything that he remembers Izabella being at that size. 

When the baby returns to fussing again, Frankie falls into dad mode, he’s immediately checking to see if she’s cold, or if she’s hot, if she’s in need of a diaper change or if she’s hungry. Determining that she could stand a fresh diaper, he heads to the bag that is sitting next to the baby carrier. 

“Hey Pope, when was the last time she ate?” Frankie questions as he moves her to be cradled in his left arm while he rifles through the diaper back with the other, in search of diapers and wipes.

“I don’t know. Like I said, I just got her forty-five minutes ago and the first person I called was you. Holy shit, I haven’t even told my Mom yet. She’s going to flay me alive,” Santiago says, pressing a hand to his forehead, while Will is just standing off to the side with his coffee, watching the whole saga unfold in front of him. 

“Okay, well, first off, we need to change her diaper, second off, we need to get her some food. I felt some bottles and what felt like a formula can in the diaper bag, so grab those out and I’ll walk you through how to change her. Then we are going to fix her a bottle, have some breakfast, and then we have to go get you at minimum another pack of diapers, a bassinet, and some clothes for her,” Frankie says, running down his list of all the things that would need to be completed. 

Will finally steps up, determined to help out however he can. “Pope, I’ll get the formula and the bottles, you go with Frankie,” he says confidently as he moves towards the diaper bag. Frankie had been right when he had said Pope was in trouble as he picked Will up, Will had just underestimated the amount of trouble it was. Garcia was a daddy. Holy hell, Benny was really never going to believe this.

Frankie heads towards Pope’s bedroom, the baby still held securely in his arm, a box of wipes and a diaper in the other hand, with Santi trailing a few steps behind him. Setting the baby down gently on the bed, he stands back up and looks at Pope, “Well, what’s her name?” 

“Shit, I don’t know man, I called her _mi princesa_ earlier but I haven’t had any idea what to do. Lacy just cut ties, the kid is less than a week old and some lawyer told me that I could file for a paternity test, just keep the kid, or call her and she would put the kid up for adoption. I am in the deep end here, Fish, and I am sinking, there is no swimming happening currently,” Pope’s voice floods with panic the more he speaks, which the baby immediately picks up on and she starts fussing again.

“Okay, _hermano_ , okay,” Frankie says in a tone that he hopes is calming and reassuring to both Pope and the baby. “We’ll get it figured out. First, let’s get her changed and fed and then we can worry about the rest.” Frankie goes through step by step of what to do when changing a diaper and by the end of it, she is at least dry and securely wrapped back up. Pope scoops her back up and brings her close to his chest again.

Walking back to the kitchen, Frankie pauses and turns around to look at Pope and the little one cuddled to his chest. He knows the panic his best friend is facing, had heard it in his voice on the phone and then again just moments ago. Trying to make sense of why Lacy had done what she had done was making his head hurt, but he knew one thing, that baby, that _princesa_ was all Santiago. 

Reaching out, he places a hand on Santi’s shoulder, “Pope, everything is going to be okay, but I don’t think you’ll need to worry about getting a paternity test. _Princesa_ there is one-hundred and ten percent all you, buddy. Come on, let's go feed her.” 

When they return to the kitchen, Will is leaned up against the counter with his coffee in one hand and a chocolate donut in the other, watching the mismatched trio come back into the room. He had set out the baby bottle, the formula, and had even set up a kettle to warm some water while he awaited their return. 

Frankie goes through the steps of preparing a bottle and testing the temperature to make sure it wasn’t too hot or cold for the baby to drink. Finally, Frankie sets up _Princesa_ in Santi’s arms so that she is settled just right to make holding her and feeding her easier. Will watches the whole thing with an almost morbid fascination; he had always figured he would have been the next to have kids after Catfish, but apparently not. 

Santiago manages to feed _Princesa_ and Frankie walks him through burping her, explaining that if he doesn’t do this it will cause _Princesa_ pain and irritate her, and the whole thing reminds Santi of how little Javi occasionally used to be after feedings. 

Will looks at Santi, “So what do you need for a baby? I assume you have nothing here,” he says, knowing the type of life his friend leads and that he had never planned on this. He watches Santi as he rocks the baby gently back and forth, her eyes getting heavy after her feeding.

“I have nothing but what came with _Princesa_ , I know nothing other than what I’ve been taught just now, and I don’t even know if I can do this!” Santiago says running a hand through his hair. “I mean why would I have anything? I’m a bachelor. Hell, my arms are getting tired just from doing this! How am I supposed to take care of an entire human?”

An idea blooms in Frankie’s mind while he’s steadily setting out what was in the diaper bag. To try and alleviate the struggle of moving gear from one vehicle to the other constantly when Izabella came along, Jaybird and Frankie had decided to buy a second of everything, second car seat, second highchair, second stroller, and most importantly, a second baby wrap. He should still have it in the truck. “Hey Ironhead, I need you to go get something out of my truck.” 

Frankie sends Will out to grab the baby wrap out of the backseat of his rig ( _“The what?” “It’s like...it wraps around. Like a vest. With a spot for the...you know what, just go look. You’ll figure it out.”_ ) and Will has to chuckle to himself at how fucked shit can get in the space of one morning. He does quickly figure out what exactly it was that Fish was referring to, holding it away from his body with an appraising eye, before shrugging and jogging back up the stairs into Pope’s apartment. 

Pope looks overwhelmed but determined, one hand on his hip, _Princesa_ held securely in the other, as he scans the now unpacked diaper bag. He and Frankie take stock of what they already have from the lawyer and what they’ll need to pick up. Frankie is rattling off a list of items that don’t sound familiar to either Santi or Will, but he sounds cheerful and certain, jotting everything down on a notepad so they don’t forget anything. 

With _Princesa_ settled comfortably in Pope’s arms, Frankie grabs the baby wrap out of Ironhead’s outstretched hand and starts explaining how the contraption works. As he goes to wrap it around Santi’s body, he gently removes the small baby from his arms and deposits her in Will’s. Santi looks uncertain for a moment, but Will looks up from the sleeping bundle and meets his eyes with a nod. Santiago returns his nod and huffs his thanks. He might be on his own, but he definitely won’t be doing this alone. 

Catfish continues on dutifully, showing Santi how the wrap works, and then sliding _Princesa_ safely into her new spot for the time being. Once she’s settled, she lets out a contented baby sigh. It’s just soft enough to fracture a bit of Pope’s heart that he hadn’t yet acknowledged even existed, one that he didn’t know could hurt like this. Frankie takes one step back, hands on his hips, and cocks his head to the side appraisingly. “Looks good on you, man.” 

Will crosses his arms and does a quick lap around Santi with one eyebrow cocked up critically. “Hey, you could totally pick up chicks like this. They love babies, man. But uh, were you planning on changing or are we going to go with a shirtless Pope?” he asks, as he gestures to Santiago’s current state of undress.

Santi groans and rubs one hand over his face. “Hey, Fish, can you take her and unwrap me so I can go get dressed?” Frankie chuckles and picks up the baby gently, rocking her back and forth as Pope starts attempting to remove the baby wrap from his torso. _Wouldn’t it be easier to make these things like a tac vest? Velcro strips, guys,_ he thinks to himself as he struggles. Seeing Frankie settle _Princesa_ safely back into the car seat as she dozes off, Santi lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and heads to his room to get changed. 

As he goes through the motions of getting ready for his day, his mind races, seamlessly jumping between sheer terror and the part of his brain reserved for making tactical battle plans. He finishes dressing and stares himself down in the mirror. “We can do this, Garcia, we _are_ going to do this. Our girl needs us. We’re going to be the best daddy we know how to be and stick by her. Our _Princesa_ needs us.” 

This was never the plan, but now that he knows he is responsible for the life of one tiny human, he can get his shit together and figure this out. It’s amazing to him how in the span of an hour, his whole life could change from confirmed bachelorhood to bachelor plus one.

Striding back into the kitchen, Pope looks at Will and Frankie with a newfound surety and confidence about what he was doing with _Princesa_ , who is now certainly a permanent fixture in his life. “So fellas,” he rubs his hands together, “let’s go get my girl everything needs.”

Frankie nods slowly, a smile spreading across his face as he sees Pope’s look of determination. “So are we doing this?” He’s really asking just for the sake of complete confirmation, he knows Pope won’t ever let _Princesa_ go easily now. He knows that glint of resolve in his friend’s eyes, it’s the same look he had before when he was talking about that fucked up mission in South America. This at least has the fortune of being a sure thing, and the benefit is Pope has a piece of himself to drive him crazy eventually.

“Yeah, you were right Fish, she’s mine. She has no one else but me. I gotta do right by her,” Pope says. Will is, once again, watching and calculating, even snooping through some of the papers that the lawyer left in the folder for Santi to review. Kid was going to be set for life but the one thing that made his jaw tick was the fact that her mother, that Lacy Westingham, couldn’t even be bothered to name her. Real charmer there.

Frankie just smiles again, knowing the ride Pope is in for. “Then let’s go get _Princesa_ what she’s going to need.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Boys and Princesa go shopping; Santi and Princesa have some trouble settling in.

Frankie helps Santi load the car seat with the sleeping  _ Princesa _ into the truck, quietly explaining everything as he goes. Pope crawls into the backseat with her while Will and Frankie get in up front. The drive to the closest store that had a decent baby section would take some time, and the boys chatted about Benny’s fight last night to pass the time, but Santi just listened idly while looking down at the bundle in the car seat beside him. 

Reaching out, he carefully strokes her little hand with one of his fingers; doing this a few times caused  _ Princesa _ to move her hand and grasp what was stroking her. Pope’s index finger trapped in the soft and extraordinarily small hand of his daughter seemed to solidify his resolve even further. Once upon a time he had planned on no kids, he had planned on running and gunning his way into an early grave, and not a small part of him had still been actively seeking that. But not anymore.

He had done so many bad things, he had accepted that he was not a ‘good’ man by any definition of the word, but for some reason, he had been handed hope on a silver platter in the form of a beautiful little girl. It almost seemed as if the universe was giving him a second chance, a way to atone for all his past mistakes.

Frankie watches his best friend, and it’s easy to see that he’s already entranced with his daughter. “Hey Pope,” he calls to the back seat, “I was thinking you’re probably going to need a house now. You know, somewhere  _ Princesa _ can grow up, have a dog, a yard.” 

Will nods and adds his agreement with a smirk, “Hopefully one big enough that you could eventually add on to your new family.” 

“One step at a time, guys. Let’s just start by getting what we need for  _ Princesa _ to get me through the next several days,” he responds, but he never takes his eyes off of the small hand that has a hold of his finger. Santiago Garcia is in love. He’s known this little being for less than three hours, but he is head over heels.

“You know she’s going to need an actual name, Pope. I’m not going to let you put  _ Princesa Garcia _ on the birth certificate,” Frankie says, “I hope you’ve thought of something.” Pulling into a parking spot, Frankie slides the truck into park and helps Santi get out and put on the baby wrap again. Settling  _ Princesa _ into it, she stays blissfully asleep.

“I’m thinking of it, Fish. Does this store have what we’ll need?” Pope asks, waving an arm in the general direction of the big red store logo, completely missing the fact that Will is currently snapping a photo to send to Benny for him to have when he wakes up. He was never going to believe this.

“Yeah man, this will have everything,” Frankie claps Santi on the back, “Come on, the sooner we get this done the sooner we can get back to your place and get everything set up.” With that, they all head towards the doors. The image they present is one that comes across as three men who know how to handle themselves in the most deadly of situations, but are currently out of their depth here in a store that none of them would normally set foot into.

As Frankie works his way down his carefully composed list, talking it through with Pope as he goes, Will’s vision darts from side to side, wracking his brain for anything he can remember from both Frankie's kids and his own bushel of nieces and nephews. 

“Hey guys!” Santi and Frankie are already half way down the aisle when Will calls to them, gesturing for them to come back to meet him. “You should get this one,” he says with confidence, and Frankie ticks up one eyebrow. “Great pick, Ironhead. Who knew you’d be good at this?” 

Will shrugs, waving his hand in front of the changing table he was talking about, “Yeah, man. Beth said that you want one that has the drawers and shit, and that place to throw the diapers away, ya know.” He rubs his other hand on the back of his neck, hoping his limited knowledge is somehow helpful, suddenly thankful for the information that he apparently had picked up by osmosis from his sister. Santi meets his gaze with a grin, “Thanks, Miller. I’m glad you’re here.” 

They go down the rest of the list fairly quickly, and manage to make it out of the store with only a few sideways glances, but they shrug it off and laugh about it, three burly battle hardened men with one tiny infant isn’t exactly your everyday department store sight. They load everything into Frankie’s truck, and Santi takes his time, carefully strapping  _ Princesa _ into her car seat and securing Frankie’s seal of approval before they all load up and head back.

When they pull up in front of Pope’s apartment, Benny is already waiting there, leaned up against his bike, smiling widely with one black eye and a sandwich in his hand. He whoops loudly as Santi climbs out of Frankie’s backseat holding a tiny bundle of pink and teal fabric. He stuffs the rest of the sandwich in his mouth before swallowing quickly and shouting, “Well, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it! Pope with a BABY, man!” 

He jogs over to clap Santi on the back and is stopped short when he sees a tiny baby with huge brown eyes fussing and staring up at him reproachfully, upset at having been woken suddenly. His mouth falls open and he sets his hand on Pope’s shoulder much more softly than he had originally intended to. He laughs, but it’s gentle, “Pope with a baby, man.” He shakes his head and rubs his hands together, a wide smile on his face, “Okay, how can I help?”

Frankie walks around the cab of the truck to stand behind them both, and punches Benny in the arm, “Well, you can help get some of this shit out of the back of my truck!” Will joins them and gestures for Frankie and Santi to head upstairs with  _ Princesa _ and some of the smaller items while he and Benny unload the bulkier things out of the bed of the truck. 

When they finish hauling everything to Pope’s apartment, Will and Benny are greeted by the domestic sight of Santi bouncing  _ Princesa _ on one arm (with much more ease now, Will notes with a small grin), and Frankie unpacking bags of baby things and explaining each item as he spreads them out across the counter. Seeing the Miller brothers enraptured by the infant warms Frankie’s heart, and reminds him just how lucky he was to have friends who would always have his back, and his best friend’s. 

“All right boys,” Frankie starts, “I gotta teach Pope here how to do some of this baby shit, can you…” 

“We can put the crib together!” Benny interrupts immediately, “We’ve already had to build some of this stuff for Beth and she’s on her fourth kid now, so I think we can handle it.”

Pope turns to Benny, a grateful look on his face, “Ben, man, you’re the best. I don’t know what I would do without all of you.” Even before he’s finished speaking though, his eyes are already back on the gurgling infant in his arms, and Will and Benny smile at each other before turning back to the living room and the task at hand. 

Once Frankie feels confident that he’s passed on enough of his fatherly knowledge to get Pope through at least the next few days, and the Miller boys have finished building a full nursery’s worth of furniture in the living room, they all set off their separate ways, leaving Santi alone again with his baby girl. 

Pope gets  _ Princesa _ fed, changed, burped, dressed in an impossibly small and adorable onesie, and tucked into her new bassinet right next to his bed. It’s only around 2000, but after the day they both had, he figures it’s about time to sack out. With one hand resting on the edge of the bassinet and a soft smile on his face, Santiago drifts off into a surprisingly peaceful sleep. 

At 2332, Santi is startled awake by a piercing cry, and he’s instantly on high alert. He runs down his mental list of things to check (and then Frankie’s actual physical list that he left), but nothing seems to be working. Giving  _ Princesa _ a bottle seems to calm her down, but one hour and fifty-six minutes later when she’s still crying inconsolably, Pope is just about out of ideas. He sighs, resigned, and grabs his phone. 

“Pope?” Jaybird answers almost immediately, sitting up in bed and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Jay, she’s bawling her eyes out, I don’t know what to do!” Pope sounds frazzled, something that’s surprisingly out of character for him, but Jaybird knows from experience that there’s nothing like a brand new baby to throw you off your game. 

“And you checked her, fed her, burped her, bounced her?” 

“Yeah, I did all that, and she’s still crying...I went down Frankie’s list and I…” Santi scrubs a hand over his face, rocking  _ Princesa _ in his other arm. 

Jayme chuckles, but answers gently, “You know, when Frankie and I did this, we had a little help. I’m going to send him over to get you two, okay? You can stay with us for a couple days until you get everything under control.” 

Pope nods eagerly, in spite of the fact that Jaybird can’t see him, and then responds with an audible sigh or relief, “You’re the best. Both of you. I’ll get everything she needs packed up. Sorry for waking you up, this is all just...very new.” 

“Don’t mention it. Give me a few to talk to Frankie and I’ll send him over, yeah?” 

“You’re a lifesaver, Jay,” Pope disconnects the call and pulls  _ Princesa  _ closer to his chest, whispering to her softly. “We got this, baby girl. Uncle Frankie is gonna come get us and Auntie Jay will help, and then you can meet your  _ primos _ in the morning, and we’re gonna be okay, yeah?” He holds her tight and rocks from side to side, humming in what he hopes is a soothing fashion. 

Frankie shows up more quickly than Santi expected, knocking and then letting himself in while Pope is still packing a go bag for both himself and  _ Princesa _ . He fixes Catfish with a grateful look as Frankie extends his arms to take  _ Princesa _ so that Santiago can finish packing. A mere 20 minutes later, everything is carefully loaded into Frankie’s truck, with his promise that they can come get Pope’s rig in the morning, and they’re on their way to the Morales household. 

The car ride blessedly seems to calm  _ Princesa _ down, and Pope and Catfish chat softly about everything and nothing on the drive. When they’re just about half a mile from Frankie’s house, he slows down and pulls over in front of a house with a bright “For Sale” sign set in the front lawn. 

“I know this is probably lower down on your list of priorities at this particular moment, but this house just went up for sale. Good neighborhood, good schools, good neighbors,” he casts his gaze over to Santi and chuckles. 

“Man, I don’t know what I would do without you,” Pope shakes his head and takes down the number on the sign. “If we can get baby girl back there to sleep a bit more tonight, maybe we can go check it out tomorrow, yeah?”

Frankie nods and pulls back onto the street, and they drive the rest of the way to his house in silence, with  _ Princesa  _ now sleeping peacefully in the back seat. Jaybird meets them at the door and takes the carrier inside, cooing quietly at the sleeping baby and watching her in the living room while the boys unload everything and move it into the guest room. 

Catfish and Jaybird both help Santi get settled and assure him that they’ll get everything else figured out in the morning, but that it’s important for him to sleep now while _Princesa_ is. Pope smiles through his exhaustion and thanks them both thoroughly, pulling them both into a tight hug before heading into the guest room to pass back out. 

Pope lays in bed, listening to the sound of his daughter’s tiny breaths and the realization of how quickly life can change hits him for about the hundredth time that day. He knows firsthand how quickly life can change, usually for the worse, but this time it seems that it's finally changed in a good way. One perfect hurricane force has swept through, in the form of a six-pound baby girl, and turned his entire world upside down.

He was surprisingly okay with that, he realizes as he smiles down at  _ Princesa. _ He has some of the best friends in the world, who literally dropped everything to be there for him. He knew, of course, that the change would take some getting used to, no one adjusts to a surprise baby overnight, but he and his family were going to be just fine. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! We are planning on updating every Sunday evening!
> 
> Come find us on tumblr! [aerolanya](https://hotspacepilots.tumblr.com) and [jedi_witch](https://jedi-mando.tumblr.com)


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